A Study in Hospital Efficiency as Demonstrated by the Case Report of the First Two Years of a Private Hospital. FIRST EDITION.

27, [1] pp. Original wrappers Near Fine. First Edition. OCLC does not locate any copies, although Harvard does have a copy. The first of three reports by E. A. Codman on "Hospital Efficiency." On May 20, 1914, Codman gave an invited talk at the 39th annual meeting of the American Gynecological Society. It was published in volume 39 of their Transactions, entitled, "Study on Hospital Efficiency as Represented by Product". In the Preface to his book The Shoulder (1934), Codman refers to his talk: "my 'Study on Hospital Efficiency,' which was presented in May, 1914, at a meeting of the American Gynecological Society, where it was well received and published in their transactions (Vol. 39) of that year. In this study I was able to use the cases which had been at my own hospital from its opening, August 25, 1911, to July 30, 1913, as a practical example of the operation of the End Result Idea." In the journal publication, pages 60-95 are Codman's text, with pp. 95-100 being discussion of Codman's paper as well as a paper by Robert L. Dickinson on "Efficiency Systems". The publication offered here is a privately-printed version, identical in content to the version published in the journal. The Boston printer Thomas Todd printed all three of Codman's reports on "Hospital Efficiency", as well as Codman's book The Shoulder (1934). In the Preface to The Shoulder Codman writes of Thomas Todd: "There is a firm of printers in Boston, old and respected, and noted for its reliable work. Thomas Todd and Company are not publishers, although they have printed many books, usually for private circulation. They have not interfered with what I have written, but have painstakingly, graciously and cheerfully aided me in every way. Their staff and employees have shown the greatest consideration for my foibles and fussiness, and have let me superintend, in every detail, the arrangement of the text, charts, tables and illustrations. They are not to be censured for any of the offences herein displayed, against conventional book structure or content, and are only responsible for the printing, and for loaning the money to have it done. I hereby record my gratitude, and hope to return the money." The date of May 10th, 1914, is printed on the last page of the text. That date precedes by ten days the date of Codman's talk. I do not know when this separately-printed version was available, but it may well have preceded the appearance of the journal publication. Codman's second report, also privately printed by Thomas Todd, is dated October 19, 1915, with the title "A Study in Hospital Efficiency as Demonstrated by the Second Two Years of a Private Hospital". Codman's third and final report, also privately printed by Thomas Todd, has the title "A Study in Hospital Efficiency as Demonstrated by the Case Report of the First Five Years of a Private Hospital". It was published without a date, but was available no later than January 1918. After Codman's death in 1940, the third report was reissued with the following printed note: "This book is sent to you as an officer of the Massachusetts General Hospital in fulfillment of a special request made by Dr. Codman shortly before his death on November 23rd 1940." This version was rebound in blue cloth. Garrison-Morton 1664.1 (citing this first report, 1914): "Pioneer application of efficiency engineering principles to hospital administration made over a five year period. Codman was responsible for the 'end result idea'. This revolutionary concept, which seems so obvious today, was that a hospital should follow every patient it treats long enough to determine whether or not the treatment was successful. If the treatment was not successful the cause of failure should be determined in order to prevent similar failures in the future. Codman was exceptionally outspoken in his views.".